Today the Pond, Tomorrow the World

Fake Movie Friday Vol 2: Summer of Love

Oh man, I almost beat Pete but he just posted before me. Damn.

Summer of Love

A Doors song plays on the soundtrack makes it clear that it is summer 1967. Three hippies, Daisy, Fred and Jamal smoke on the top of their van. Daisy has flowers in her hair, Fred wears big sunglasses and has long hair and a beard, Jamal has a sweet Afro. They are having a rambling stoned conversation. The conversation takes a serious turn when they begin talking about the war. Jamal cuts them off saying they shouldn’t think about that now, there’s time for those thoughts later that night. Daisy brings up movies and they start discussing Bonnie and Clyde.

We cut to a wealthy middle aged couple getting ready to go out. As the man is putting on his tux and the woman her makeup, they are also discussing Bonnie and Clyde. We cut back and forth between the conversations, the couple hated the movie. They didn’t like the glorification of violence and felt like the level of violence was completely gratuitous, especially at the end. The hippies on the other hand, loved it. They felt it was a transgressive work of art. As the wealthy couple are walking out the door the woman says that hopefully they will have a better time tonight, but she doesn’t have high hopes. The man says if it’s a bust they can just go rob a bank. The woman hits him playfully. We cut back to the hippies who are getting ready to leave. They are still discussing the movie. Daisy starts the van and says, “no one can disagree that that movie made violence beautiful.” As the van pulls away we can see through the window into the backseat. It is filled with guns.
Well dressed people are showing up to a party. It’s very formal. The couple walks in and greets everyone warmly. In a backroom the help is preparing appetizers and drinks. A man in an ill fitting tux is inspecting champagne bottles in the corner. “Sir, the champagne isn’t for later, we can make you a Manhattan if you wish.” He looks around surprised, “Oh… no thanks, I was just looking for the bathroom… sorry.”

We learn the couples’ names (Alfred and Page) as they introduce themselves to guests. All the guests work for defense contractors, Lockheed Martin, Boeing etc. Alfred is an engineer and Page works in advertising at Boeing.

Toward the end of the night the champagne is passed around. Alfred gets up to make a speech. He talks about how the past few years have been very lucrative. As soon as he finishes the word ‘lucrative’ the crowd cheers. He calms them down and talks about how they have a serious job, this is about bringing freedom to the world. He has everyone raise their glasses. “We all earned this. Let’s drink to freedom!” Someone in the crowd shouts “Fuck Russia!” Everyone laughs and drinks.

Daisy, Fred and Jamal burst into the party brandishing guns. They have everyone lay down and put their hands over their heads. Jamal starts monologuing about how evil the war is and how they are even more evil for profiting while others die. They are there to give them a taste of their own medicine. They will know fear. The war has come to America. He says they have half an hour to nominate one person to die. The man in the ill fitting suit stands up and asks what will happens if they don’t. “You all die,” Jamal replies. The man says that there are only three of them and at least fifty of us, they can fight. Jamal looks over at Daisy who walks slowly toward the man and slits his throat.

Everyone scream and Fred and Daisy pull the body out of the room. Jamal takes out a small kitchen timer and sets it. “You have thirty minutes. Oh by the way, the champagne is spiked with LSD, have fun!”

It’s pandemonium. Alfred is comforting Page as best he can. Everyone is freaking out. People are turning on each other, trying to nominate the older people. They finally come to an agreement to draw straws.

The acid starts to kick in for many and one person keeps drawing all the straws, not understanding what’s happening. There is confusion and people try to redo it, but they are running out of time. The hippies return and raise their guns at the crowd. The timer is about to go off when Alfred stands up and volunteers. Page is inconsolable.

Alfred is taken away by Fred and Daisy. Jamal says things aren’t over yet. They have to chose two more. He sets the alarm again and then says he isn’t a bad man. In fact, to help the time pass they can watch some movies. He turns on a projector which starts showing extremely gruesome Vietnam footage and blasts trippy music.

The hippies tie Alfred up. He is putting on a brave face. The man in the ill fitted suit walks into the room and Alfred freaks out for a moment then composes himself. “This shit is real strong, I’m seeing some crazy stuff,” he says. The man kisses Daisy who pushes him off and says she doesn’t want to get food coloring on her. Fred laughs at Alfred and says that they were never going to hurt anyone. The guns aren’t even loaded. They just wanted to bring some of the horror they are profiting from back to them.

There are strange noises from the other room and Jamal and Daisy go to investigate. Things have gotten violent. People are tripping and fighting. There is blood everywhere. Jamal and Daisy start to run back but a mob of people fun after them and brutally murder them.

Page is hallucinating. She sees demons everywhere. She hears Alfred yell from the other room and runs to him.

Page sees Fred as a demon that is sucking out Alfred’s soul. She tackle and begins to choke him. Alfred tells her to stop. Page snaps back to reality and sees Fred as he really is. His glasses were knocked off and we can now see that he is only eighteen years old. Fred says it was all fake, they didn’t want anyone to get hurt. Page takes a moment then strangles him to death.

We cut to Page and Alfred at home a year later. They are watching television and Page gets excited and says her new ad should be on right now. A commercial starts. We see hippies. Their faces start to become demonic. There are flashes of newspaper headlines talking about a massacre perpetrated by “flower children.” The screen goes blank and text says “Nixon, the only Law and Order candidate.”